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INSURANCE RESEARCH AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES

There is a rich, detailed collection of insurance documents at the National Archives
relating to World War II, the Holocaust, and postwar Europe as well. Fortunately for us
researchers, Dr. Greg Bradsher and his team have periodically compiled useful finding aids
to help guide us to some of the more pertinent items of interest. As a researcher, I like
to start with the basics; the overviews; the macro approach, and then work my way into the
details. The place to start a foundation for insurance in the Archives is in Record Group
260, the OMGUS records, the military government of the U.S. in Germany. Box 248 of the
Deputy Director of the Economics Division of OMGUS contains a very good history of the
German insurance industry, including German insurance during the National Socialist
regime. This document shows the Nazis partaking of the large capital reserves held by
German insurance companies by filling the leading positions in the insurance field with
trusted party men. The formation of a Reich monopoly for the privately-owned insurance
companies was considered by the Party as a necessary step in a program which envisioned
the eventual nationalization of the German insurance business. In addition to attempts to
infiltrate into the management of the private insurance companies as a means for
controlling the companies, the Nazi party, by decree, exerted pressure on the insurance
companies to divert funds from the normal

insurance investment channels into Reich securities or loans to industries: initially
in such ventures as Autobahn construction, then later, in war industries. The four largest
German insurance companies in the U.S. Zone claimed after the war that they were able to
resist Nazi pressures to dominate their organizations and that they never contributed more
than a minimal amount to the Party's programs. This, however, was not borne out by
the facts of this document.

Box 11 in the records of the Branch Chief of the Property Control and External Assets
Branch of OMGUS also contains an excellent overview of the German insurance industry. This
report sheds light on reinsurance, the program where insurance companies spread risks
among each other. This document also explores German exploitation of fresh opportunities
for profit that opened up as one European country after another was overrun. These
opportunities were enhanced by the enforced withdrawal of British companies with their
long established connections, especially in Western Europe and in Scandanavia. In many
instances, the Germans also took over the business of their non-enemy competitors. In
defeated France, negotiations with the French insurance cartel gave the German companies a
free hand. The report also goes into detail about German takeover of the insurance
industries in Belgium, Yugoslavia, Denmark, Romania, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, and Hungary
to fuel their war machine. It goes on to study the German life insurance field, in
particular, as "the outstanding branch" in the industry because it has the
largest capital investments. Meanwhile, it is stated that Swiss insurance companies were
allowed to flourish in Germany, Belgium, and France while operating less actively in
Holland, Luxembourg, Egypt, Syria, and Spain. In fact, in another OMGUS document, the
Americans are astonished to learn that the Swiss companies operated without interruption
throughout the war. Box 61 of the Financial Institution Branch's Insurance and
Central Bank Policies in the OMGUS records has a file on German insurance policies. This
is the most detailed folder I have found on the status of Jewish insurance policies. One
OMGUS document says that in 1941, insurance companies had to transfer all reserves
securing policies held by Jews and other undesirables to the Reich Ministry of Finance.
The insurance companies were then relieved of any further liabilities with respect to
these policies. There is also a letter from the son (an American citizen) of a
concentration camp victim frustrated in his attempt to collect a $6,000 life insurance
payment from a Swiss insurance company operating in Hamburg, because of the fallen
Reich's assumption of responsibility.

OMGUS records also detail:

German involvement in the Czech insurance industry

the establishment of the DKG, the German War Risk Insurance Association created by the
Third Reich in 1939 for the purpose of insuring seaborne freight against risks of war, in
which all transport companies were members, and in which, the Reich had overwhelming
influence, actually setting rates and terms.

German-Swiss insurance company cooperation

the postwar liquidation of German insurance companies associated with the German Labor
Front

licensing of German insurance companies to reopen for business after the war

postwar German insurance company irregularities

Record Group 165, the War Department General and Special Staffs, also contains an
excellent overview of the German insurance industry in Entry 179, the Interrogation
Reports & Correspondence on POW's. There is much information on the public
insurance industry, the Brunswick institutions, covering every conceivable type of
insurance, from cattle to life. Public insurance in pre-Nazi Germany was controlled by the
state governments. After 1933, the Reich's Ministry of Economics took over the
business. A particularly helpful chapter describes the influences of the war on public
insurance.

Record Group 169, the Foreign Economic Administration, contains Entry 157, Research
Reports & Studies. The records here discuss American worries during the war of
insurance information regarding shipping and cargo to and from Latin America being leaked
to the Germans because of the Axis domination of the insurance industry in that part of
the world. Box 15 discusses Spanish-controlled firms acting as a front for Italian
insurance companies in Argentina. Axis insurance companies are seen as having a cozy
relationship with the Chilean government.

Record Group 226, the OSS, has some information on the Axis penetration of the European
and Latin American insurance markets. These records are located in Box 3 of Entry 37,
Correspondence of the Division Chief of the Europe-Africa Division.

Within the Economic Warfare Section of the Antitrust Division of the Department of
Justice, Record Group 60, is documentation of reinsurance between German and Japanese
insurance agencies in October 1941, particularly Munchener Ruckversicherungs and Tokyo
Fire Insurance Company. There is also material on the German insurance company, Victoria,
extending its business into the occupied countries of western Europe. It is stated within
this collection that the Axis insurance structure is "a powerful agency in the
economic control of the continent." By dominating the insurance field throughout
Europe, profits of some Axis insurance companies were doubled or tripled as they took over
the cream of the insurance business, leaving the more dubious risks to domestic companies.
These Axis firms also acquired control of the investment and management policies of
insurance companies in occupied areas, "thus exerting a powerful influence in
financial and industrial affairs."

RG 60 is also concerned with Italian insurance; the strategic importance of insurance
information; and the Axis domination of the insurance market in Latin America. Box 95 of
this series provides a list of American and foreign-owned companies doing reinsurance
business in the United States.

Within Record Group 131, the Office of Alien Property, there is an entry known as the
Foreign Funds Control Subject Files. Box 173 has a document on German laws, decrees, and
regulations regarding insurance. Box 170 details:

German insurance activities in Portugal, Spain, and Turkey

German-French insurance cooperation

German prohibition of private insurance companies writing life insurance policies for
invalids.

the termination of German insurance operations after the war.

Record Group 84, the Foreign Service Posts of the United States, provides a window into
the postwar insurance situation within formerly fascist and neutral countries. Box 40 of
the U.S. Political Advisor records for Germany show the Allied government appointing
experts to the Insurance Institutions experienced in social insurance and having
anti-fascist convictions.

Box 50 of the Political Advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean
explores the question of the resumption of French and Italian insurance company activities
following liberation.

Box 99 in the same series states that Italian insurance companies that operated
out of Trieste (e.g. Riunione Adriactica) were closely allied with German interests
during the war and that the Americans were determined to root out the fascist
elements operating in the industry. This box also illustrates the frustration
of American authorities at the Italian government's reluctance in "weeding
out" the extensive undesirable elements" within the insurance sphere.

Box 106 of the US Legation records relating to Hungary detail Soviet pressures to
squeeze out Italian insurance companies after the war, along with
"recommendations" for "concessions" from Hungarian-owned insurance
companies.